The Blue Swordsman
by TheSansationalAuthor
Summary: *FIXED* Griffin, a Sword Art Online beta tester and survivor, receives a mysterious video message from a boy in a black coat, asking for help. What was attacking him? And will Griffin be able to stop it?
1. Quick Note

**I was using a short prologue here to introduce a character, but some haters started commenting, so I said to myself, "SCREW IT! NO PROLOGUE!" And now I have revised some of the story to shut the haters up.**

 **But first, a message from PewDiePie.**

 **"Haters gonna hate. Ducks gonna duck. Quack." -Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg**


	2. RE:The Skull Reaper

**I know the prologue was pretty sucky, but it was only to introduce a character and a backstory for said character. Don't hate! Just read further before casting judgement on this fanfiction.**

In a virtual world known as ALfheim Online, on the 75th floor of a floating castle of steel, seven people walked through large double doors into an empty room. The red-haired man in the back was called Klein. He was a samurai armed with a katana and a golden hammer. The girl ahead of him was Liz, a blacksmith with short, pink hair and armed with a mace. The two girls ahead of her had cat ears and tails. They were Sinon, a light blue-haired archer, and Silica, a short girl with sand-colored hair in pigtails. Beside Silica was a tiny dragon with light blue feathers. Ahead of the human/feline hybrids was Leafa, a girl with blonde hair in a ponytail, dressed in a light green dress. Asuna, the girl ahead of Leafa, had sky-blue hair and a rapier at her side. And finally, at the end of the long, somewhat poorly-written list was Kirito, Leafa's older brother. He had black hair, a black coat, and two swords on his back. One was blue with black accents, while the other was the Holy Sword Excalibur, a golden sword with three blue orbs just above the handle. As soon as the double doors closed behind the group, Kirito stopped, signaling the others to do the same. He then pointed upwards. At a first glance, the thing above may have looked like a pile of bones from dead monsters that defied gravity. Then the four-eyed skull looked down, the eyes a blazing red. The monster dropped from it's place on the ceiling, revealing a large, scorpion-like body. Four green HP bars appeared near it. The name clearly read 'Skull Reaper.' The name brought back memories for everyone, except for Sinon, Leafa, Liz, and Silica, who did not fight the creature in Sword Art Online. Klein then remembered how difficult this boss fight had been the first time around. "Uhh... Did anyone else just realized how screwed we are?" He asked, afraid. "Don't worry." Kirito reassured his best friend. "We already know all of his tricks. And if he has any new attacks, Yui will tell us." He gestured to a tiny head poking out of his jacket pocket. Yui was a little girl with black hair that Kirito and Asuna had 'adopted' in SAO. That is, before they found out she was a mental health program forced to watch those trapped in Sword Art Online slowly descend into madness. Kirito had brought her to ALO by turning her into a teardrop-shaped jewel to bring her back in ALO. She was currently even more of a little girl than before, as she took the form of a helper fairy, causing her to shrink in size. Everyone drew their weapons and prepared for the fight.

 **One boney ass-kicking later...**

"See, Klein? Easy." Kirito said, in spite of how tired he was. "Yeah... *pant*... So easy... I had the time of my friggin' life." Klein panted out, exhausted. Round two with the Skull Reaper had been even more draining than in Sword Art. Perhaps because they would respawn after dying this time. "Is THAT what you did in SAO for two years?!" Leafa asked, amazed and tired. After catching their breaths, the group moved on towards the door. "Daddy," Yui called to Kirito from his pocket. "Something is wrong. I'm sensing another entity in this room." "Is it a player?" Kirito asked. "Or an NPC?" Yui shook her head. "Neither. I don't know exactly what it is, or where. But it kind of looks like-" Yui didn't get to finish. Her voice became garbled, and she began to spasm around. Suddenly, Liz screamed briefly before vanishing. The same happened to Sinon, Silica, Klein, Leafa, and Asuna, in that order. Kirito knew he was next, so he saw only one solution. He began a recording program he had been tinkering with. He recorded a message, put it in Yui's inventory, and used a teleport crystal on her before vanishing.

 **And so ends the beginning. More chapters on the way!**


	3. Monsters?

**It's time for a new story! A story of a boy who saved others from a VRMMO. No, I'm not talking about Kirito beating Sword Art Online, I mean a new story! Just with a similar general concept. And the same universe. It's still very different, though.**

Griffin had lived in Japan for three years. He had moved from New York after signing up for a beta test for a new VRMMO called Sword Art Online. Since he had been a gamer for years, beta testing a fully immersive game with swords, swords, and more swords was basically a dream come true for him. The only problem was he had to move to Japan. His mother had decided to go with him, but his dad and brother had to stay behind. They promised they'd visit each other. Once he had gotten the alpha of SAO, he and his mother had decided to stay in Japan permanently. His father and brother moved in with them eventually. As thanks for the beta testing, Griffin got two NerveGear headsets along with the alpha of SAO. He and his brother signed on. And they didn't come back for two years. They have endured much after being trapped by Akihiko Kayaba. When they came back to reality, Griffin missed the virtual world immediately. He also was depressed to not at least contribute to beating the game.

"Aaaand... Done!" Griffin said, finishing all of his homework for winter break. Almost immediately, the 14-year-old gamer ran to his NerveGear to play ALfheim Online. He slammed it on his head eagerly and laid on his bed. "Link start!" He said, starting the game. He was immediately met with a number of rainbow-colored lines. He was no longer Griffin. In the virtual world, he was Cross, an Undine swordsman. Undines were skilled in water magic, not that Griffin cared. He mostly chose the Undine race for his avatar because of the baby blue hair and wings. He ignored his bustling surroundings in Yggdrasil City, only one thing in mind: Find the teleport gate to New Aincrad.

Cross looked excitedly around the Town of Beginnings in New Aincrad. Months after it's appearance, he still was so happy that the virtual world he had grown to like had not vanished forever. And now he could die all he wanted, but he would be just fine when he logged out. "Now, where is Henry?" Cross wondered aloud. The 'Henry' he was referring to was his 12-year-old brother, who had no homework for vacation. Cross swiped his right hand downwards, summoning a menu. He poked a picture of two side-by-side figures, opening a sub-menu. He poked his brother's handle: "Paleo-freak." His handle reflected his love of dinosaurs and paleontology. Cross tapped a map icon next to his brother's handle, revealing a map of his little bro's current location. He activated his wings and flew off towards his little brother, thinking of things to do on the way.

Cross leisurely crossed his legs laid back while flying to his brother. While he was rolling over to check the map, he saw a number of black blots on the ground. Curious, the young Undine flew down to the ground. Closing in on the black things, Cross realized that they were... Monsters? They were not like anything Griffin had seen in Sword Art Online, not even in the beta tests. They seemed to be huddled around... "Henry!" Cross exclaimed, unintentionally drawing the monsters' attention. He got a look at their faces. They had yellow eyes and very realistic humanoid expressions. Some of them looked familiar to Cross, somehow. They inched towards him. Cross equipped his sword. It was a lightweight one-handed longsword, as blue as his hair. He slashed at the monsters, killing them. He then sheathed his sword and ran to his unconscious brother. Henry was a black-haired Cat Sith.

Cat Siths were basically monster tamers with cat ears and a cat tail. Henry chose this race to tame and control dinosaur-like creatures. Cross shook the younger sibling. "Henry! Wake up!" Cross said, slapping his brother. Even in the virtual world, that trick seems to work, because Henry woke up the moment Cross slapped him. "OWW! WHAT THE HELL?!" Henry yelled in anger. "You should thank me!" Cross exclaimed. "You were unconscious and about to be attacked by these weird monsters. They looked really familiar, but completely new to me at the same time." "I was knocked out?" Henry asked, confused. "Huh. The last thing I remember is chasing after these black things that kidnapped five players in the Town of Beginnings." Cross was shocked by this news. "Five players were _kidnapped in the Town of Beginnings_?! But it's a safe zone!" All Henry could do is shrug. "Well, I know what I'm gonna do here today: Find out more about these monsters."

Cross wandered through a total of 32 floors in New Aincrad, asking everyone he met about the mysterious black creatures kidnapping players. He didn't find anything out, though. He only learned that hundreds of players had already been taken. "Ugh. What are these things?" Cross asked himself, desperate for any clue. "What do they want with us? Any clue would be nice!" Then his prayers were answered by a pixie flying into his face.

 **And that's the end of the beginning of Griffin/Cross's story! The story gets better! If you don't like, don't hate, just don't read. See ya next chapter!**


	4. The Message

**The story has been rewritten. I have put some more thought into it and fused the prologue with the second chapter. Don't like? Don't hate! Just put some constructive criticism in the reviews. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism!**

Cross opened his eyes, a stinging sensation lingering on his face. In his right eye, he saw a blurry object. He pulled the object off of his face to find it was an assist pixie. "Hello." He said simply. The pixie stayed silent, a look of panic on her face. She looked over her shoulder, gasped, and flew behind Cross to hide. Cross watched the fairy use him as a human (or fairy) shield, then looked forwards, seeing more of those black monsters. He unsheathed his sword and ran at the monsters, slashing at them quickly, giving them no time to respond. These monsters, however, were stronger than the last bunch Cross battled. Only a fifth of their HP drained. Cross was shocked. _The others were beat in one hit!_ He thought. _Why are these five times stronger?!_ Cross decided to figure it out later, and slashed through the monsters relentlessly until they vanished in a cloud of blue and green triangular particles.

After the fight, Cross walked towards the pixie the monsters seemed to have been chasing. "Are you alright?" He asked the little girl hiding in the grass. She came out of her hiding spot. "Yes. Thank you." She said. "I am Yui. What is your name?" "I'm Cross." He replied. "So, what were those things? Why were they after a little pixie like you?" Yui shrugged her tiny shoulders. "I don't know what they are." She replied. "But they may have been after me for one of two reasons. Maybe both." Cross would have smiled if he hadn't fought those mysterious monsters so hard. "One reason is that I'm not exactly a helper pixie. I'm a psychological monitoring program from Sword Art Online." Cross was shocked to find that a computer program seemed to survive SAO as well as about 4,000 players. "I can access numerous features and information only available to admins." "What's the other reason?" Cross asked, fascinated by the little A.I. "I have a recorded message from the one who saved me from total deletion in SAO." She replied. She then brought up a window with a familiar teenager with black hair and a black coat, a semi-transparent play button in the center of the picture. Cross tapped the button. The message began. "Hello." The boy began. "I am Kirito." Now Cross remembered. _Kirito! The one who beat SAO and saved 300 survivors from having their minds controlled in Old ALfheim!_ He thought. "My friends and I need help!" Kirito said urgently. "There is a weird black monster kidnapping my friends! Maybe even more players! I don't know what they want, but they must be stopped! I am sending this message with my pixie, Yui. Take care of her until I am free. Don't come for me first. Make finding more about these monsters top priority!" Kirito looked back to see a monster coming towards him. He looked back at the camera. "Save my friends and the other players! Kirito out!" The video frame then filled with static for two seconds before a replay button appeared in the picture. Cross stood silently, a look of shock frozen on his face while he processed everything that just happened.

 **And that's chapter 3! I hope you enjoyed! Remember, haters hate and ducks duck! See ya next chapter!**


	5. The Trap

Cross was still taking it in. He might be the only hope of saving everyone in the game. At least, that's what he was told. He didn't understand why the players couldn't just log out until the problem was solved. Yui noticed his look of shock and confusion. "Are you going to be OK?" She asked. "I understand that this is quite a burden to carry." Cross was silent, then assured, "I-I'll be fine." This didn't entirely convince Yui, but she didn't say anything. "So, we need to figure out what the Hell these things are and why they're kidnapping players left and right." Cross recapped. "I've been doing that all day, yet I've got nothing. Where do they go? What do they do to these players?" Yui then had an idea. "That's it!" She exclaimed excitedly. "It's so obvious! The readers have probably been screaming this in their head!" "SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP! STOP BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL!" Cross screamed. "Oops. Sorry." Yui apologized. "So, what's your idea?" Cross asked, pretending none of that just happened. "We just follow the monsters to wherever they take the players!" Yui elaborated. Cross face-palmed, pissed at himself for not thinking of that sooner. "OK. Let's get someone to volunteer to get themselves kidnapped, then follow the monsters." He decided. "Who can we get to do that?!" Yui asked. "I know just the little nutjob." Cross said, a mischievous, evil smirk growing on his face.

"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Henry complained. "Deal with it! You wanna help stop these monsters from actually kidnapping you?!" Cross asked, losing his patience. "Couldn't we wait until tomorrow?" Henry pleaded. "It's almost midnight!" "Exactly!" Cross exclaimed. "There aren't as many players logged on at this hour, so there's more of a chance of them going after you!" Henry knew that there was no way around this, and just gave up.

30 minutes passed. Nothing. No mystery monsters, no regular monsters, no players. Just nothing. Even Yui was getting tired. A computer program was tired. "How long is this going to take?!" Henry asked, sick of standing around, doing nothing. Just as he said this, six yellow specks of light appeared in the air. Mystery monsters. They had heard Henry's loud complaining. "I don't think it'll take much longer." Cross whispered, giving a light chuckle. The monsters grabbed Henry in mid-flight, speeding away into the air. Cross summoned his wings and gave chase, Yui in his front pocket. He followed them all the way to the exit of New Aincrad. He hadn't even known that there were actual _doors_ to fly into. He followed them for fifteen minutes before their destination was clear. The monsters were heading for the top of Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

 **I'm finally continuing the fanfic! I ran out of ideas and winged it when I wrote this. Don't hate! See ya next chapter!**


	6. The Truth

Cross watched as the monsters defied the game's logic and actually flew all the way to the top of the World Tree. He had apparently forgotten that he couldn't do the same, however, as he crashed into the barrier and fell into the streets of the city below. Cross sat up slowly. "What the Hell?!" He exclaimed in rage. "They just can't seem to stop breaking the rules of the game! Attacking in safe zones, and now passing through the altitude limit barrier!" "It seems that any entity created by a program other than Cardinal can break the rules of the game." Yui noted. Cross looked over at the fairy in shock. "Wait. You mean they weren't even created by the game?" He asked. Yui shook her head. "So, that means they weren't created by a coding bug. Even monsters with programming errors have to live by some of the physics of this world. That means these things weren't accidents." Cross thought aloud.

They turned their attention back to the monsters that were getting away with Henry. "I guess there's only one way in." Cross said, full of DETERMINATION (sorry, couldn't help myself). He drew his sword and dashed into the giant double doors leading into the trunk of the Tree, ready for a big fight. He had heard that it was near impossible to get past the horde of robots that guarded the way through the Tree. It seems he hadn't been told that the robots had been taken out when they turned Old Alfheim into New Alfheim. He burst into a large, empty chamber full of shut down robot spawners. Cross looked around the room in a fighting stance. After thirty seconds, he relaxed, and his DETERMINED (sorry) face had grown into a confused expression. "Uhh, where are they?" Cross asked Yui. "Where are what?" Yui asked, confused. "The robots!" Cross elaborated. "The robots that guard the entrance to the World Tree!" "Oh. Those." Yui said. "They're gone." Cross's confused expression was replaced by disappointment. "You're joking, right?" Cross asked, irritated. Yui only shook her head. "So no big fight?" Yui nodded. "This is total bullshit!" Cross exclaimed, enraged. His expression soon softened. "Oh, well. At least this won't take as long." He said.

When Cross reached the lowest branch of the World Tree, he saw a dozen monsters already. He drew his sword and fought his way through. He had barely broken a sweat by the time he had found his brother. He looked around to find other players being forced into weird machines. When they opened, the players were gone. They had become monsters.


	7. Gearing Up

**I know it's been forever, but I am finally free to continue this story. I have been writing an entire fanfic ahead of time to be sure it was ready before I published it. I've also been busy preparing for finals, but I finally have a free moment. Enjoy!**

Cross was panicking more than he had ever panicked in his life now. The monsters were players. The more they kidnap, the more they recruit. How could he stop them? What do they even want? "Well," Yui said. "At least the plan was a success. We know more about them." "We know they're players." Cross said. "They also seem to be in some kind of trance, but how? There should be at least _someone_ who could resist hypnotism. But then they'd have prisoners. I haven't seen a dungeon here yet." "Uh, Cross?" Yui said nervously. "Yeah?" He responded. "I think you should get in there and stop them right now!" "Why?" Cross asked. "If I'm right, we have until tomorrow before over half of the players go missing, minimum. Why rush-" He stopped talking when he saw Henry being forced into a machine. Cross unsheathed his sword, but, before he could run in and save his brother, Yui stopped him. "Wait!" She said. "The players forcing him into the machine. They're too powerful." "I guess that makes sense." Cross said. "The machines are probably pretty important to them, seeing as how it's how they multiply. But I can't just sit here and watch them turn my little brother into a monster!" "You have too, or else you become a monster, too!" Yui said. Cross watched as his brother was shoved into the machine, and came back out one of the monsters. He was horrified. "What do we do?" He asked. "All we know is that they're players in some kind of hypnotic trance or mind control, and the machines that convert the players into the monsters are heavily guarded. All we know is that we're powerless to stop them." Yui's face then lit up with joy. "I found him!" She shouted. "I found him! He's not a monster!" Cross grabbed Yui and put his hand over her mouth. "Shut up!" He whispered to her. "Do you want us to get caught?!" "Sorry." She said. "But I found Daddy!" "'Daddy'?" Cross asked. "You mean Kirito?" Yui nodded excitedly. "Well, let's go find him!" Cross said, grinning. Yui then flew down the corridor, Cross following close behind. The tunnel ended, and Cross could see the entire city below the World Tree. He stared at the lit up town below. Yui then snapped him out of it. "There he is!" She said, pointing at a cage. When they reached it, they saw Kirito. His back was to them as he sat on a bed, his head hanging in defeat and sorrow. "Daddy!" Yui called to him. Kirito turned around. "Yui?" He said. "What are you doing here?" At first, he sounded overjoyed to see her, but he soon looked pissed. "I thought I told you not to come for me." He said. "Sorry, but there was nothing else we could do." Yui explained. "The machines making the monsters were heavily guarded, and we didn't know what to do." Kirito looked over at Cross. "Hello." He said. "I'm Kirito. But the message Yui showed you probably told you that already." "Yeah." Cross said. "I'm Cross." He held out his hand. Kirito shook it through the bars. "Daddy! We need to get you out of here!" Yui said. "No." Kirito said. "Saving the players is your first priority." "Okay," Cross said. "But, how? My weapons could take out the lower level monsters easily, but they won't even scratch the tougher guys." "That's why I'm gonna loan you my weapons." Kirito said, smiling. "They're in that chest." He pointed at a chest a few feet from the cage. "They put it just out of my reach to mock me." He said. Cross opened the chest and couldn't believe what he saw. On top of black and blue longswords, laid the Holy Sword Excalibur. Cross looked over his shoulder at Kirito. "You're letting me borrow Excalibur?" He asked, not believing it. "Yes, I am." Kirito replied. "You're gonna need it. I may not have been turned, but my friends have. And they are not the sort of people you wanna mess with." Cross felt a bit less overjoyed when he said that, but was still excited. A window appeared in front of him.

 **Kirito is lending you:**

 **Holy Sword Excalibur**

 **Blue Longsword**

 **Black Longsword**

 **Accept Decline**

Cross pressed 'accept', and the powerful weapons in the chest in front of him vanished, moving to his inventory. "Thank you." He said. "Thank you for helping me." Kirito replied. "One more thing, by the way. One of my friends, Sinon, isn't here, if you're planning on saving them so you have backup." "Where is she?" Cross asked. "She's currently trying to infect another game." Kirito answered. "Gun Gale Online." "GGO?" Cross asked, getting excited. "I love that game! I used to play it all the time in America!" "Good." Kirito said. "So you have experience." "Sort of." Cross said, scratching the back of his head. "I have pretty crappy weapons." "I can't loan you any from this cage." Kirito said. "But, there is a minigame where you can win tons of money." "Oh, yeah." Cross said bitterly. "That cowboy thing. I hate that game. I always mess up just before getting to the end." "Well, my advice is to just try to predict where the bullet lines show up." Kirito said. "Predict the predictions." "That makes no sense." Cross said, confused. "How can you possibly predict predictions?" Before Kirito could answer the question, they heard footsteps. Cross turned around to see two monsters standing just a few feet from him. One of them was Henry. The undine's eyes filled with tears. "Don't worry, bro." He said. "I will save you. And I'll send whoever's behind this straight to Hell for you." He then jumped off the branch, Yui following. "Why did you just jump off the top of the Tree?!" Yui asked. "Shortcut." Cross replied, realizing he didn't think this through. "A very, very deadly shortcut." He said. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he remembered he could fly at this altitude. He used his wings to stop himself just inches from the ground. He pulled up the menu and checked the time. It was almost 2 a.m. "I'd better log off now." He said. "What will you tell your parents about your brother?" Yui asked. "The truth." He replied. "When players are kidnapped, they don't log off, and this is all over the news. They'll believe me." He waved goodbye to Yui and logged off. When he opened his eyes, he wasn't Cross anymore. He was Griffin again. And Griffin had a lot to do in GGO tomorrow.


	8. RETURNING IN JANUARY

**Just a quick note: I will post more chapters starting early January.**

 **-The Most Sansational of Authors**


	9. Author's Note

**You stand in front of a grave next to Cross. The stone reads:**

 **HERE LIES THE SANSATIONAL AUTHOR**

 **MADE A PROMISE HE COULDN'T KEEP**

 **CAUSE OF DEATH: OVERDOSE OF MEMES**

 **CAUSE OF WHY THIS DIPSHIT DIDN'T ADD A NEW CHAPTER IN JANUARY:**

 **-LAZINESS**

 **-KINGDOM HEARTS**

 **-KINGDOM HEARTS 2**

 **-WATCH DOGS 2**

 **-LEGEND OF ZELDA BREATH OF THE WILD**

 **-SCHOOL**

 **-THINKING OF FUTURE CHAPTERS**

 **The list of bullshit excuses seemed to continue onto the back of the gravestone, but you didn't bother to read. Cross puts his hand on your shoulder. "He'll be back." He tells you. "Before the summer is over, he will come back."**


	10. New Gear

**Cross sits by the author's grave grave, staring at a watch. Finally, the author pops out, covered in sweat and dirt, with a fedora on his head.**

 **Cross: "Well, here you are. Only SEVEN MONTHS LATE!"**

 **SA: "Not... *gasp* Now..."**

 **Cross: "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"**

 **SA: "I tried to post in May, but they came out of nowhere!"**

 **Cross: "Who? And why are you wearing a fedora?"**

 **SA: "The MEMES, man! It was THE MEMES!"**

 **Suddenly, a Roblox scream, alonig with people screaming something about buying clothes at a soup store and 'deez nuts' or something, could be heard from the hole in the grave.**

 **SA: "Those freaking memes are RELENTLESS!"**

 **Cross: "What do we do, dude?!"**

 **SA: "You start the thing! I'll find some cement or something and plug the hole!"**

 **Cross then ran off, and the author began fighting off the memes.**

Griffin woke up the next morning to exactly what he expected: his mother's blood-curdling scream coming from Henry's room. He ran to his parents and told them the whole story, aside from the part where he was ALO's only hope. That would send his parents into shock. He returned to his room and logged onto his computer. He searched through his computer, trying to find his GGO login information, but with no luck. "It's in your notepad program." A voice said in his computer. "Thanks, Yui." Griffin said to the voice, recognizing it. "Wait. _Yui?!_ " He looked around his screen, but didn't see the little pixie anywhere. "Hello, Cross!" Yui's voice called through the speakers of Griffin's computer. "What the heck are you doing in my computer?!" He asked. "When we were in contact with each other before you logged off, I traced your signal to this computer." Yui replied. "Now I'm inside it!" "That is so cool and probably illegal." Griffin said. He found his login info. He still wasn't sure how he could save GGO when he had the weakest weapons and armor. Yui noticed this, and said, "Don't worry, I'm sure you can do it. Too bad I won't be there to help." "Maybe you can be." Griffin said, then began to find a way to bring Yui with him. _If push comes to shove,_ he thought. _There is always plan B._ He finished what he was doing and started the game.

* * *

Cross opened his eyes to see a familiar sight. The holographic neon signs and futuristic buildings of SBC Glocken. But, despite the fact it was the capitol of Gun Gale Online, it was almost empty. _Where the hell is everyone?_ Cross thought. Then, he looked down at himself. He still had his beginner's armor, if it could even be called that. It consisted of black sneakers, jeans, a blue t-shirt, and a black jacket. He had goggles on his head, and his brown hair had a few blue streaks in it. But he had something on him that he didn't have before. A wristwatch. It resembled an Apple Watch, but the face was round instead of square. It was the only form he could give Yui. Cross decided to look for someone who could tell him where Sinon was. As he walked off down the road, he felt like he was being watched.

Cross decided to make a quick stop at the weapon shop to challenge that cowboy game one more time. He looked around. There were a few people, and NPCs selling weapons and ammo. Then he saw the damned minigame he once wasted hours trying to beat. He looked at his money. He had enough for one try. He started the game. As he started running at the robotic cowboy, Cross saw the red lines that indicated where the robot would shoot. The first part was always easy. Then the bullets began to speed up. But Cross kept going. ' _Predict the predictions, predict the predictions!'_ He thought over and over again. Then he noticed something. The prediction lines from the robot followed a pattern! As soon as he noticed it, Cross sped up, dodging bullets with ease. He reached the end, giving the robot a punch in it's metal stomach for all the trouble it had caused him. He then looked at how much money he had won, realizing he hadn't beforehand. What he saw on the sign made his jaw drop. Over 1,000,000 credits! He grinned ear to ear before he remembered his mission. Money in his inventory, he browsed the shop for some suitable gear.

After a few minutes, he found something he had always wanted: a photon sword. He bought a blue one, and gave it a few swings, before latching it onto his belt. He also bought an 8-chamber revolver and an AK-74. He then looked through some armor.

He looked through dozens of choices before he saw it. A red and blue shirt with a black spider with gold trim on it, with a blue and orange bulletproof trenchcoat, jeans, and red and white combat boots. They also included oddly-shaped goggles with dilating lenses, and web shooters that would shoot webbing harvested from mutant spiders in the wild, used for swinging, tethers, or traps. "This is the happiest day of my life." Cross said, wiping away a tear. "What next?" Yui asked in his watch. "First, I get my gear on." Cross replied, buying the armor and changing into it.

"Then," he continued, "We find Sinon." "How are we gonna do that?" Yui asked. "Maybe the guy following us would know." Cross said. He then quickly turned, seeing a masked boy behind him, holding a gun. Cross shot a web at the gun, pulling it away from the boy. "Alright, I'll make this simple." Cross began. "Tell us what you know, and I won't use you as a test dummy for my new equipment.

"Okay, okay!" The stranger yelled, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'll tell you."

Cross froze. He knew that voice.


	11. Spider Man

"Shawn?!" Cross yelled in surprise. He hadn't expected his cousin to be the one holding him at gunpoint.

"Do I know you?" Shawn asked, confused.

"It's me. Griffin!" Cross said, smiling. He hadn't seen his cousin since last Christmas, when he went back to America for the holidays.

Shawn squinted, before finally recognizing his relative. "Hey, man!" He said hugging his cousin. "How've you been?"

"Oh, you know." Cross answered. Break from school, brother's been kidnapped by a bunch of monsters in a VRMMO, I'm the star of a shitty fanfiction. Just your average winter."

"Oh." Shawn said. "Sorry about Henry."

"It's fine." Cross said. "I'm working on fixing it. So, Shawn, why have you been following me?"

"First off, I'm called Ajax in this game," he replied. "Second, everyone's kinda desperate for money and gear."

Cross looked serious now. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Those monsters appearing in ALfhiem, they've started appearing here too." Ajax responded.

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Cross said. "I was gonna ask what you knew about one of them."

"Which one?"

"A sniper named Sinon."

The moment the name left Cross's mouth, the other 4 people in the shop, including Ajax, went quiet.

After a minute of silence, Ajax said, "Let's continue this in a bar somewhere."

* * *

When the two arrived at a bar, Cross told Ajax everything, from when Henry was taken, to when he met the legendary Black Swordsman, to moments before the two ran into each other.

"So the Black Swordsman himself gave you freakin' Excalibur, and trusted you to save thousands of people trapped in a VRMMO?" Ajax asked.

"Basically." Cross said nonchalantly. "Now about Sinon-"

"SHHHHH!" Ajax interrupted. "There are a lot of people here who lost loved ones to that girl."

"Really?" Cross asked. "She's _that_ tough?"

"She's the best damn sniper in GGO!"

Cross's confidence left him immediately.

"W-what?" He asked.

"She won the third BOB!" Ajax continued. "Well, tied with Kirito, but still!"

Cross started to get scared.

"She has Hectate, the best sniper rifle in the game!"

"Uhh, Ajax-" Cross began.

"She-"

"AJAX!" Cross yelled. "I think I get the idea."

"Why do you want to know anyways?" Ajax asked.

"I'm here to stop her." Cross answered, absolutely terrified.

Ajax began to laugh uncontrollably. Cross's fear was then replaced with irritation. His own cousin wouldn't take him seriously. A tick mark appeared on his head as the laughter continued. Cross eventually punched Ajax in the face.

"I'm serious, you jackass!" He said angrily.

Ajax rubbed his left cheek, where Cross's fist made contact.

"Well I didn't think so before, but with a right hook like that, you might just have a chance." He said jokingly.

Cross rolled his eyes. He still wasn't being taken seriously.

"Okay, I wanted some info from you, but now I see I was wasting my time." He said, getting up from his seat and leaving the tavern. "Goodbye, and go fuck yourself."

Ajax got up and ran after Cross.

"Wait!" He yelled. Cross turned around. "I know where she might be."

* * *

Cross finally reached the top of the cliff where Ajax said Sinon would be. He saw a girl with cyan hair and green armor in front of him, holding a sniper rifle.

"Sup?" Cross said, startling the girl.

She turned around, revealing glowing yellow eyes, just like the other monsters had.

"You're Sinon, right?" Cross asked calmly. The girl stayed silent, but nodded.

"I know what's been done to you, and I can help." He continued, slowly approaching her. Sinon reached for her gun, but it wasn't there. She looked around, and found it covered in webbing, behind Cross.

She reached for her SMG, but found that to be stuck in it's holster, also covered by webs.

"You really think I didn't plan for that?" Cross asked. "For the best sniper in this game, you still don't notice everything, do you?"

As soon as Cross was right in front of her, looking down at her, she pulled a knife out of her boot and stabbed Cross.

But the knife phased through him.

"For example," He continued, "Whoever is behind this gave you a description of my avatar, including height, which is less than yours."

Sinon gave him a shocked expression. How could he have known all this?

"And yet, here I am, three inches taller that you." Cross said with a smirk. "That holographic decoy I bought didn't quite get the height right, but it still fooled you, didn't it?"

"If this is just a hologram, then what's the point of coming here?" Sinon finally asked. "You can't hurt me."

"So, unlike the others, you _can_ speak." Cross said, amazed. "And I _can_ hurt you. The real my is around here. How do you think your guns were webbed up? But I'm not here to fight yet. I've come to warn you that I'm coming for you."

Cross's face turned serious as he said this.

"Who are you?" Sinon asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Just your friendly neighborhood spider man." Cross said, smiling. "And I have a pretty bad bite."


	12. Maximum Effort

Cross returned to the bar where he had talked with Ajax. He had provoked this game's monster queen. He had to come up with a plan.

"So, what do we do now?" Yui asked. Cross checked the time. 7:43.

"It's getting a bit late." He said. "I'll log off and come up with a plan."

"You mean you don't have a plan?!" Yui yelled.

"Nope." Cross answered. "Honestly, I've just been winging it since I logged onto this game."

He then logged off.

* * *

Griffin took the NerveGear off of his head to see his mom beside his bed.

"Hey, mom." He said. "What's up?"

"I've been waiting hours for you to log off that game." She replied. "I wanted to say that, after what happened to your brother, maybe letting you play VR games isn't the best idea."

"But I wasn't even playing ALO this time." Griffin replied, hoping his mom didn't know that the same thing was happening in GGO.

"I know," She said. "But I just don't want a repeat of three years ago."

"Hey, I made it out of SAO just fine!" He retorted. "Besides, no one's dying this time."

"I know." His mom said. "I just want you to be careful."

"I will." Griffin said.

"Good." His mom said, smiling. "Come on, dinner's ready. We got pizza."

Griffin fist-pumped before running downstairs to the dining room.

* * *

Cross logged back into GGO.

"Good morning, Cross!" Yui said from Cross's watch.

"Good morning, Yui." Cross said.

"So, do you have a plan?" Yui asked.

"Yep." Cross said, smiling. "Ajax messaged me about a swarm of those mind-controlled players headed through an abandoned city. I'm gonna ambush them."

"By yourself?!" Yui asked, astonished. "You won't last a minute!"

"About that." Cross said. "This plan was the best I could do, so I decided to also put Plan B into action."

"'Plan B'?" Yui asked.

A window filled with scrolling lines of code appeared in front of Cross. He typed in something and closed the window. His HP then reached impossible levels.

"What did you do?" Yui asked.

Cross's smile faded.

"It's not important right now." Cross said.

Yui was confused, but shrugged it off.

Cross then walked off to set up an ambush.

* * *

Cross sat on the edge of a bridge over a highway, listening to 'Mr. Blue Sky' and drawing different versions of the spider logo on his shirt.

"Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why," He sang along. "You had to hide away for so long, where did we go wrong?"

He then noticed you readers.

"Oh, hello." He said. "For those of you kicking yourselves and scouring the internet to find out what these references are from, allow me to save you the trouble. This highway scene is from _Deadpool_ , the spider logo is from _Spider-Man: Homecoming_ , and Mr. Blue Sky was played at the beginning of _Guardians of the Galaxy 2_. The author's a Marvel fanboy. Anyway's, I have places to be, people to save, and- ooh!"

Several cars and trucks appeared full of mind-controlled players.

"Bad guys to kill." Cross finished. He climbed up one the ledge and said, "Maximum effort." He then dropped down as a car passed by.

Cross crashed through the sun roof of the car, and began to fight all of the monsters inside.

"Cup shot!" He yelled before hitting a monster in their... yeah, anyways, he then threw a monster out the back of the car. The monster hung on for dear life as the car continued. Cross laughed, then was pushed against the back of the driver's seat.

"Rich, virtual leather." He said, then he elbowed the monster holding him against the seat. "I'm looking for Sinon!" He said, kicking the monster in the face. He then leaned in between the front seats. "Have you seen this girl?" He said, holding up a picture of him webbing Sinon to a wall to the monster in the passenger seat. In response, the monster punched Cross through the drawing, then grabbed his head and banged it against the dashboard. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."

Meanwhile, a monster on a motorcycle drove up beside the car.

Back to the car, the passenger seat monster pulled out a gun to shoot Cross, but Cross moved the barrel of the pistol towards the driver's leg just before the passenger pulled the trigger, causing the driver to get shot in the leg.

The cyclist pulled out an SMG and tried to shoot Cross through the window. Cross then kicked the passenger monster out of the car at the cyclist, knocking the door off in the process. The cyclist was knocked off the bike, while the passenger was being dragged by a seatbelt. The monster hanging onto the back of the car finally climbed his way back on. Seeing this, Cross quickly came up with a plan. He punched the driver in the leg, then pushed in the cigarette lighter. The monster in the back climbed over the back seats and pointed a gun at Cross, but, because the driver was busy trying to beat him up, the car crashed into the car ahead of them, flinging the monster in the back towards Cross. The car ahead spun out, falling behind. Cross, who had the monster from the back in a headlock, grabbed the cigarette lighter and pressed it against the monster's forehead, burning it. He then shoved the cigarette lighter into the monster's mouth.

"I didn't think I'd say this today," Cross said. "But don't swallow."

Just then, one of the cars behind them pulled up next to them, all of the passengers pointing their guns at Cross. In a panic, he used his foot to turn the steering wheel to the left, causing the car to start tumbling sideways down the road. As they rolled, Cross grabbed the cyclist, who had somehow passed by the car, dragging them into the mess. Then, for a moment, time seemed to slow down. The biker was about to be decapitated, a monster spit out the cigarette lighter, and Cross said, "Shiiiiiiiiit. Did I remember to turn the heater off?" Then time sped back up. The cyclist lost their head, and a monster was splattered against a street sign as the car landed on it's side. Surviving monsters approached the car as the window facing upwards was opened...

 **I had to keep watching and pausing a Deadpool clip to make it as accurate as I could. Please just appreciate it!**


	13. I'm rewriting this, but really who cares

I read through the fanfiction Cross handed to me. It was started two years ago, and it wasn't even 10% finished. Cross stared at me as I flipped through the pages. Finally, I finished reading and closed the packet. "Well," Cross said. "What did you think?" I thought about it. I didn't really know what to think. It wasn't bad, but it still had plenty of room for improvement. "It was ok." I finally answered. Cross smiled wide at his success, before I put a hand up. "It _was_ ok. When I was just starting to write fanfiction." I continued. "But I think I could try to improve it if I rewrote a few things. A few minor details here, puns there, less profanity around an AI with the appearance of a child." "I guess that would be ok." Cross said. "Looking back, there were a few things I didn't like about it, either." "Then let's get to work." I said. "Oh, and we'll need a new title. The old title sucked." Cross agreed. We then started rewriting this fanfiction your reading right now.


End file.
